Work-life balance just doesn’t exist as a startup founder. When your work IS your life, there is no balance. You’re ‘always on’.

Startups require an almost unhealthy obsession. I wouldn’t describe it as workaholism, more a deep desire and belief that what you are working on needs to exist. Unfortunately this comes at the expense of many other areas of your life. You can’t have your cake and eat it. Not in startups.

When you don’t have a brand or existing reputation to fall back on, everything you do is with the aim of creating trust; trust that you can deliver and execute on your promises. You need to convince customers that you can deliver value for them, convince investors that you’re capable of building returns, convince employees that your company is worth joining.

As an entrepreneur, so much of our work involves trying to make our own worlds smaller. We have to be constantly thinking about how we can increase our access to valuable customers, large volumes of users, high performing employees, high profile investors, knowledgeable mentors, peers we can rely on etc.

Often I think we’re guilty of forgetting just how connected we are and how freely accessible most resources are, providing you have the resolve and determination to reach them.